Professor Fleinhardt's Office Hours
by leaptad
Summary: A companion piece to Calculus 3. Set on the day that Charlie and Larry become friends. Charlie is an undergraduate.


Author: Alison

Title: Professor Fleinhart's Office Hours

Pairings: none

Summary: Charlie visits Larry during his office hours. Set during Charlie's freshman year of college. Charlie is about 13. Sort of a companion piece to Calculus 3, but set several years earlier.

Rating: K+

Spoilers: none

The secretary was about the same age as Charlie's mom. Her hair was up, but messy and she had a pencil stuck in it. "Excuse me," Charlie said as he approached her desk.

She looked up, saw the boy standing in front of her, and glanced around checking behind him and at his sides for an adult. Charlie waited for her to look at him again and then waved. She raised her eyebrows. "Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for Dr. Fleinhart's office. Can you tell me where it is?"

Her eyes narrowed to slits. "And you are?"

"I'm a student here. I wanted to talk to Dr. Fleinhart."

She chuckled. "A student. How ridiculous. What do you really want with Dr. Fleinhart, my dear?"

Charlie couldn't resist. "Actually, I'm his illegitimate son. I've come to reunite with him." Charlie leaned in close to the secretary and added in almost a whisper, "He doesn't know about me yet."

The secretary didn't know what to think. She scowled at him. Charlie noticed the directory next to the stairs and left the bewildered woman while he looked for Dr. Fleinhart's name. His office was on the second floor.

Charlie glanced back to the her. She was still eyeing him contemptuously. "I'm coming, daddy!" Charlie called over his shoulder as he bounded up the stairs two at a time. He decided he would come in the side entrance next time and avoid her desk altogether.

Dr. Fleinhart was not in his office, even though his office hours had already started. Charlie dropped his backpack and took a seat on the linoleum to wait. It was his second semester at CalSci and he was getting used to his unique position as the youngest student at the school. There was some debate as to whether he was the youngest student ever. People seemed reluctant to count the twelve year old who had eventually had a nervous breakdown.

He was getting used to the comments, the stares, the pointing. He was seriously considering getting a T-shirt that said, "Yes, I'm a student. And no, I don't want a balloon." Or maybe "I'm 13. To get my SAT score, multiply by 100 and add 250." On the back it would say, "I'll be sitting over there while you work that out." Maybe it was too long for a T-shirt, but it would still be funny.

Dr. Fleinhart finally arrived, carrying a thick satchel plus several heavy books and papers. Charlie took the stack of books from his hand to allow him to unlock his office.

"Do you have an appointment?" Fleinhart asked, squinting at Charlie.

"No. I just wanted to talk to you. These are supposed to be your office hours."

Fleinhart stacked all of his books and papers haphazardly on his desk. He checked his watch. "Well, okay, what do you want to talk about?"

"I'm in your Physics 3 section. I'm Charlie Eppes."

"Yes, Mr. Eppes. Your reputation precedes you." Fleinhart gestured with his hand as he spoke.

"I had a question about the theorem you were talking about. The one that defines the nature of electricity in its particle state?"

"Well," said Fleinhart, nodding, "that is a difficult concept to grasp. I can understand how someone as young as you might find that challenging." He walked over to the board and wrote out the theorem. "Now..."

"I think it's wrong," Charlie blurted out.

Fleinhart stopped, chalk poised over the blackboard and turned slowly. "You think it's wrong? You think a fundamental theorem of physics, that has been used for almost 70 years, is wrong?"

Charlie nodded. "Yeah. The math just doesn't work out. I did some equations last night." He pulled out his notebook and flipped it open.

Fleinhart took the notebook and began gingerly flipping through it. There were nearly 20 pages of notes, completely filling each page, front and back. His face seemed to implode slowly, page by page. "So," he finally said, "you decided to completely revolutionize modern physics last night. Just..." he shrugged.

Fleinhart sank into his office chair and placed the notebook in front of him. He began reading through the equations as if it were a novel. He put his hand over his mouth and shook his head as he read.

Finally he stopped and looked Charlie dead in the eye. He opened his mouth and raised his hand, as if to speak, but then thought the better of it. He stood and paced in front of his window, stopped to run back over to the notebook and examine it more closely.

"Professor, is there someone else I should talk to?" Charlie said, not sure what to make of his reaction.

Fleinhart sat back down again, examining the pages once more with deep intensity. "I don't know," he muttered. "Einstein? Gauss? Fermat? Buckminster Fuller? He's still alive. You could maybe give him a call."

"Excuse me?" Charlie said.

Fleinhart threw his hands up and then redoubled his efforts at deciphering Charlie's equations.

Charlie walked around behind Fleinhart and read over his shoulder. "See, right here," Charlie said, pointing to his work. "This is where the original theorem breaks down. It's really not that hard to see if you just think about it."

Fleinhart just started at the notations Charlie indicated, his eyes wide with disbelief. "I'm pretty sure this is right, though," said Charlie. Fleinhart didn't respond at all. "Professor?" Still nothing. "Professor?" he said louder.

"Larry," Fleinhart said, wrenching his neck around to see Charlie. "Just call me Larry. I think the whole teacher/student thing is pretty much out the window at this point, don't you?"

Charlie smiled. "Hi, Larry. I'm Charlie," he said, holding out his hand.

Larry shook it and smiled. "So, Charles, are you planning on disproving a lot of our physics theorems?"

Charlie shrugged. "Just the ones that are wrong."

Larry pulled a chair over to the desk and indicated Charlie should sit. "I've never said these words to a student before, but, could you explain this to me?"

Charlie sat down and pulled the notebook closer. "Sure. Just let me know if you get lost."


End file.
